It's definitely a sign of how this town has changed when a big crowd at the Muny is roaring at the jokes in Kinky Boots. The folks who would have been horrified at La Cage aux Folles when it played at the Muny in 1986 certainly were nowhere to be found at this musical comedy, which began as a British film based on a true story, about drag queens and the factories who shoe them.
Of course it's funny – the words come from the delightfully wicked Harvey Fierstein, who never misses a chance to take a sharp stick to the eye of masculine stereotypes, one of his pet targets. The music is from singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper, her only Broadway show to date, which won her a Tony for best original score. (She's the only woman to win the award solo.)
The shoe factory that Charles Price's family has run for four generations is in financial peril. Well-made but otherwise unremarkable footwear for men isn't making anything but returns to the stock room, and Charles, who seems only vaguely aware of that, is determined to get out of the Midlands of England and live in London with his fiancee. Just after they arrive, Charlie's dad dies and he's forced to come home and face the returns and the payroll.
One night he comes across a couple of yobs attacking a rather tall woman. He steps in to protect her and ends up getting knocked cold. When he comes to, he's in the dressing room of a nightclub; he's protected the honor of the headliner, it turns out. And she is a he. Lola is, she explains firmly to Charlie, a drag queen, not a transvestite. As she takes off her high-heeled boots, Charlie remarks that they're cheap. No, says Lola, they're expensive, they're just cheaply made. And eventually, Charlie, thanks to Lauren, one of his employees, finally realizes that this might be a niche market that will enable the factory to remain open. If they can just get some made in time for the Milan fashion week, which is coming up very soon..…
Some reflection on father-son relationships, more on gender roles, and a lot on downright stereotyping, but it all works well together. Graham Scott Fleming gives us a stold-but-not-stolid Charlie, becoming increasingly frantic as the stressors magnify. Lola’s song “The Sex Is in the Heel” takes the joint apart in J. Harrison Ghee ’s rendition; he’s great all around, including containing himself when Charlie erupts in judgmental ire. And our own Taylor Louderman returns from her current Broadway gig in Mean Girls, taking a week off to come back to the stage where it all began, as she plays Lauren, the worker who acknowledges she’s pretty gaga over her boss.
DB Barnes is credited with “re-creating” the direction of the show after the original from Jerry Mitchell on Broadway. Mitchell also did the original choreography, where is here re-created by Rusty Mowery. Not surprisingly, Kinky Boots is heavy on the dancing, given the nightclub references, including Lola’s backup team, the Angels and it’s right on target, making fine use of Lauper’s fun score. But what about the costumes? I hear you saying. Are they fabulous? They certainly are in the house that Lola is in; the folks in the factory are equally appropriate if considerably less revealing and more demure in color, all courtesy of Gregg Barnes.
What a romp this is! Guaranteed to loosen inhibitions!
Kinky Boots
through June 25
The Muny
Forest Park